Ecclesiastes 7B

• We begin again with a summary of Ecclesiastes so far:

  • This book is Wisdom literature, written by Solomon, a man that God gave wisdom and discernment greater than any man.

  • The book of Ecclesiastes establishes Solomon’s theory of the meaning of life.

    • The thesis is the meaning of life can’t be found in the creation, therefore it is vanity to try and seek for it there.

    • Solomon began providing proof through the repeating cycles in nature that display a meaninglessness in understanding an advantage in life.

  • Solomon continued to establish this by his personal experiences concluding that wisdom and wealth and seeking an earthly legacy are meaningless in understanding an advantage in life.

  • There is a God-appointed time for every event under heaven. Man’s purpose in life is to seek God’s sovereign will lived out.

    • God has allowed wicked men to oppress others. Do not be surprised when you witness this truth.

    • Approach God in reverence seeking only to know His will in every situation. Be satisfied in what God provides. In that is true contentment.

  • All things come from the hand of God because God is sovereign over His creation. Man was not created to change the mind of God. Because all things are from God, man is to be content in every situation.

• Chapter 7: What we live for matters. When confronted with pain in life we must embrace it for what it can do in our lives. This is wisdom. Ultimately, everything is from the hand of God. What we endure during this life is not a reward or a punishment indicating our stance before God in eternity, for this is not how God’s will is revealed to man.

  • This was Solomon’s ultimate frustration as we see in the remainder of Chapter 7.

Eccl. 7:15 I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
Eccl. 7:16 Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?
Eccl. 7:17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
Eccl. 7:18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.

• v.15 How does Solomon continue? (I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility)

  • When Solomon says “I have seen” what does this mean? (He is a witness)

    • When did he witness things? (during my lifetime)

  • How does Solomon describe his lifetime? (of futility)

    • What ‘everything’ is Solomon referring to? (What he just revealed in verse 14)

  • What was Solomon revealing in verses 13 and 14?

    • God has made both the day of prosperity as well as the day of adversity.

    • What was God’s purpose? (Eccl. 7: 14 So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.)

• What happens to a man in this life is not a predictor of what God has prepared for him in eternity.

  • In verse 15 Solomon says he has seen everything.

    • What specific example does Solomon begin to describe? (there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness)

      • The first man described by Solomon is a righteous man.

    • What is a righteous man? (Morally pure or upright by man’s standards)

  • What happens to this righteous man? (Perishes in his righteousness)

    • The better way to understand this phrase is that the righteous man perishes because of his righteousness.

    • The righteous man is not protected from perishing because he is righteousness. In worldly views, this would be the guy in the white hat always wins. This is not true, and we see this all the time in our own experiences. Solomon witnessed this during his lifetime.

• v.15 How does this verse end? (and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness)

  • Who is a wicked man? (Those who are morally bankrupt even by man’s standards)

  • What does the wicked man do? (who prolongs his life in his wickedness)

    • What does prolong mean? (To draw out like a line into the future)

    • This man with a longer life lives how? (in his wickedness)

  • This a something that is true in our own experiences as well. There are many wicked people who continue to live in their wickedness with what appears to be no restraint. No Godly restraint.

    • I call these lightning bolt moments. Where is the retribution from God? Where is the retribution from righteous men?

    • We do not see swift judgment. We often don’t seem to see judgment at all, on earth, during someone’s lifetime.

• v.16 Because what one does in appearance does not change what God has planned for our eternal destination, what counsel does Solomon give? (Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?)

  • What does righteousness look like from God’s standard? (Perfection)

  • Can any man be righteous from what he does to God’s standard? (No)

    • This is not talking about righteousness from God’s standard.

  • What does excessive righteousness look like from man’s standards?

    • First man establishes what he thinks is righteous.

    • Then man tries to do what he has determined to be righteous.

    • Man in this way creates a checklist for himself.

• When man keeps his checklist he sees himself as righteous. We call this self-righteousness.

  • What do we call this when men live this kind of life? (Legalism)

    • What else does Solomon advise to avoid? (and do not be overly wise)

    • What does one who is overly wise refer to? (wise in one’s own estimation)

    • Could this refer to someone who thinks they are wise enough to figure out what pleases God in some external way? What checklist they must keep? If they keep their checklist, then will God certainly reward them in particular ways?

  • Does one bargain with God?

    • If I do this or think that then God will certainly do this or that.

• v.16 What does Solomon say the result of this type of thinking and behavior is? (Why should you ruin yourself?)

  • What does it mean for one to ruin themselves? (To destroy oneself)

  • To not achieve the very thing one thought they were doing or building.

    • Only God can determine righteousness.

    • God does not reward men for their self-determined righteousness. When one defines their own righteousness, they are not looking for true righteousness from God. In this way they destroy themselves.

• v.17 What else does Solomon warn against doing? (Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool.)

  • What is it to be excessively wicked? (To do things one knows are against God’s standard for morality)

    • This again requires that one has a checklist of things they would see as wicked and to do those things.

  • What else is one to avoid? (do not be a fool)

    • What is a fool? According to the Psalms…

Psa. 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

• Solomon says a person should not be a fool or say in his heart, “There is no God.” When one says, “There is no god,” he will be excessively wicked.

• v.17 What should be on the mind of someone who says, “There is no God,” and is excessively wicked? (Why should you die before your time?)

  • What does it imply, that one could die before their time? (That there is a time for one to die)

  • Who determines when our time to die is? (God)

    • Solomon already dealt with this in Ecclesiastes 3.

Eccl. 3:1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven —
Eccl. 3:2  A time to give birth and a time to die;

• God has determined the day of our life and death.

  • We do not change God’s mind about this day.

• From what perspective has Solomon been speaking of in terms of determining righteousness and wickedness? (Human)

  • Why would a man incite God to destroy him before his time?

  • What perspective then is he describing when he says, “Why should you die before your time?” (Human perspective)

• v.18 What is Solomon’s advice? (It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other)

  • Solomon says he has presented two things to be grasped. What are they? Man determined self-righteousness leads to ruin.

  • Man finding his way or his own path to God does not exist.

    • There are some men who then declare, “If I can’t get to God my way then I will deny there is a God.”

    • Men must remember not to practice either of these in their lives. Because both of these are truths, they are not either/or, they are both true at the same time.

• v.18 What is also true? (for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.)

  • Who is the one who fears God? (A believer)

    • A believer then comes forth with both of them.

  • Both of what? (Not a standard of self-righteousness or a denial of God)

    • Who does the believer turn to in determining the proper standards of righteousness and who ultimately determines how those standards will be met? (God)

    • We have a better understanding from Romans 4:1-8. There are sections here quoted from the Old Testament.

Rom. 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
Rom. 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom. 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Gen. 15:6)
Rom. 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
Rom. 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Rom. 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 4:7 “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
Rom. 4:8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

• Back in Ecclesiastes we read

Eccl. 7:19 Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
Eccl. 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
Eccl. 7:21 Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you.
Eccl. 7:22 For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
Eccl. 7:23 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.

• v 19 When a man turns to God to understand righteousness, what happens? (Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.)

  • This specific wisdom of turning to God for righteousness strengthens a wise man.

  • What is this wisdom compared to? (ten rulers who are in a city)

• The number 10 in the scriptures points to a witness or a testimony about something.

  • In Esther we have the 10 sons of Haman hanged to demonstrate the destruction of the enemies of God’s people.

  • The 10 commandments stand as a witness to man’s inability to meet God’s standards of righteousness. They were just a symbol of righteousness, but that was enough to demonstrate man’s need for God.

    • The book of Ruth demonstrates the practice within cities to have 10 men present when conducting legally substantiated business.

Ruth 4:1 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Turn aside, friend, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
Ruth 4:2 He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.

• When there are ten men as elders in a city there is a protection over this city from corruption. This was wisdom passed down from Moses.

  • Boaz brought his concerns before the 10 men of his city and this wisdom was seen as great, and yet Solomon says this wisdom he has revealed to men about the folly of self-righteousness and denying God is of greater value to them.

• Eccl.7:20 Why is this true? (Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.)

  • Solomon says there is not a single man on earth who never sins.

  • When a man is called righteous, that is not to be confused with sinlessness or righteousness defined by God.

Psa. 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
Psa. 14:2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
Psa. 14:3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.

• These verses make it clear there is no one who can do good before God, not even one!

• Eccl. 7:21 What other warning does Solomon give? (Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken,)

  • What specific words is Solomon warning against listening to? (so that you will not hear your servant cursing you.)

  • Why would a servant be heard cursing a master? (When the master did not respond as the servant expected)

    • When a master does not respond the way a servant expects, that does not mean the master gives any attention to what the servant might say.

    • In the same way, when God does not respond the way men believe He should respond, God does not listen to men. He is not swayed by men in the same way a servant will not sway his master. This is how all should approach God.

• v.22 When a master does hear his servant cursing him, what is he to remember? (For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others)

  • The one who has heard the cursing of one about himself has also cursed others. There is no one who has not cursed others.

    • What men will accuse others of, he is guilty of himself.

    • Men in their words have declared their self-righteousness before God. These words should be ignored.

    • Men have declared they do not believe there is a God, and these words should be ignored as well.

• v.23 What did Solomon say he had done in regards to these standards? (I tested all this with wisdom)

  • What is the ‘this’ Solomon tried to test? (God not responding to the ways Solomon believed God should respond)

    • This would mean both to men who declare their self-righteousness before God as well as those who deny there is a God. This may include those who were righteous yet did not receive what Solomon thought was reward.

  • How did Solomon test these words? (with wisdom)

  • What did Solomon say he tried to be in this regard? (and I said, “I will be wise, but it was far from me.”)

    • Solomon dedicated himself to be wise in this estimation or understanding of God’s judgment of men here on earth.

  • What was the conclusion of this for Solomon? (was far from me)

    • Solomon was unable to determine by his standard of wisdom what God was doing when He responded to men.

Eccl. 7:24 What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?
Eccl. 7:25 I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness.
Eccl. 7:26 And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
Eccl. 7:27 “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,
Eccl. 7:28 which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.
Eccl. 7:29 “Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”

• v.24 What is Solomon’s denouncement? (What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?)

  • What is meant by ‘what has been’? (That which God had already done)

    • The explanation of what God has already done is described how? (is remote and exceedingly mysterious.)

  • What is remote? (isolated or far off)

  • What is exceedingly mysterious? (Dictionary.dotcom states it is of obscure nature, meaning, origin, etc.; puzzling; inexplicable)

    • God’s responses were far off from how men would respond, their meaning is lost on men in their reasoning.

    • Man does not have an ability to understand what he sees here on earth in this lifetime in measurable outcomes. God’s ways are not man’s ways.

• v.24 What is Solomon’s rhetorical question? (Who can discover it?)

  • What man can actually discover the measurements of how God works.

    • Paul comes to this same conclusion in Romans 11:33.

Rom. 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

• Eccl.7:25 What did Solomon say his desire was? (I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation)

  • Solomon truly wanted an answer to his questions in this regard — to know.

    • He used all the knowledge of his mind, his reasoning, and all his abilities to research or investigate to find an answer to his questions.

  • Solomon desired an answer established in wisdom that would be an explanation to what God secures.

• What was the question in the forefront of Solomon’s mind? (and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness.)

  • The trail of folly will lead to evil.

  • The trail of foolishness leads to madness.

    • Solomon’s desire to know the end result of folly and foolishness. This was his quest.

• v.26 What example of this does Solomon say he experienced? (And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains.)

  • Solomon knew death could be bitter but what did he determine to be more bitter than death? (the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains.)

  • Is there an example in scriptures of a woman who represents this in Solomon’s life? (1Kings 9:16-17, 7:7-8, 2Chr. 8:11, 1Kings 9:24.)

1Kings 9:16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
1Kings 9:17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon

1Kings 7:7 He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment, and it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.
1Kings 7:8 His house where he was to live, the other court inward from the hall, was of the same workmanship. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married.

2Chr. 8:11 Then Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy where the ark of the LORD has entered.”

1Kings 9:24 As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, then he built the Millo.

• From these scriptures it is clear that Solomon entered marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter. She is not named in the scriptures.

  • He honored her with a great house.

  • Solomon knew this wife was not a follower of God, and he did not allow her to dwell in the house of the king because it was holy and she was not.

    • What was one outcome Solomon says was possible in regards to this woman? (One who is pleasing to God will escape from her)

  • Who is one who is pleasing to God? (One who follows God’s ways)

    • The one who follows God’s way will escape this woman.

• It would appear at one point in Solomon’s life he escaped the evil of this wife by not allowing her to dwell in the house of David, King of Israel.

  • Who else is described? (but the sinner)

  • What happens to the sinner? (will be captured by her)

    • Which outcome do we see Solomon experienced?

1Kings 9:1 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do,
1Kings 9:2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
1Kings 9:3 The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
1Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,
1Kings 9:5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
1Kings 9:6 “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
1Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
1Kings 9:8 “And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’
1Kings 9:9 “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”

1Kings 11:1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
1Kings 11:2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
1Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
1Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
1Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
1Kings 11:6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.
1Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
1Kings 11:8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
1Kings 11:9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
1Kings 11:10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded.
1Kings 11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
1Kings 11:12 “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
1Kings 11:13 “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

• Who was Solomon ‘captured’ by? 1Kings 11:4 (his wives turned his heart away after other gods)

  • There is one wife that is called out specifically, who is that? (Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh)

  • The question is why did Solomon turn his heart away after other gods?

    • What was he looking for?

• Eccl. 7:27 How does Solomon answer what he was looking for? (“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,)

  • What one thing was Solomon adding to another? (worshipping other gods)

1Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

1Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
1Kings 11:8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

• Eccl. 7:27 What was Solomon seeking? (to find an explanation)

  • An explanation to what question?

    • In v 25 Solomon gave us the question he was seeking an explanation to. What was that? (and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness.)

• v.28 What does Solomon say about finding an explanation to his question? (which I am still seeking but have not found.)

  • Solomon had still not found the answer to his question in all the places he has sought to find his answer in seeking after the gods of his wives.

  • What did Solomon find? (I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.)

    • Where did scripture give us a count of a thousand in regard to Solomon?

1Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

• Solomon had a total of one thousand women who were considered either his wife, princess, or concubine.

  • What single man would have been found among this thousand women? (Solomon)

  • What was this one man seeking? (an explanation to his question)

    • What else did Solomon say he had not found? (a woman among all these)

    • These were all women, so that is not what Solomon is saying.

  • Solomon is saying there was not a woman found among all these thousand women who were seeking what? (an explanation to his question)

• v.29 What one conclusion could Solomon make? (“Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”)

  • What can God do? (Make men upright)

  • What does man do? (seek out many devices)

    • Man seeks out devices to become upright.

    • This is futility as only God can make a man upright.